Minimally invasive surgery, such as endoscopic and/or laparoscopic procedures, is a type of surgery performed through one or more small incisions in a patient's body, usually less than an inch in dimension. Some advantages of minimally invasive surgery are that patients experience reduced physical and physiological trauma, much smaller scarring, and faster post-surgery recovery times.
The single port approach to minimally invasive surgery, whether that be through a single incision or via a natural orifice such as the oral cavity, nasal passages, the navel, the vagina, and the anus, for example, provides the benefit of smaller and fewer body cavity incisions. Single-port procedures, however, require several instruments to be inserted and manipulated through a single entry into a tissue tract, thereby, limiting the freedom of movement for manipulating the multiple instruments inserted through a single port.
Access ports are commonly used in such minimally invasive surgical procedures to facilitate the introduction and manipulation of multiple instruments and equipment into a tissue tract through an incision or a natural orifice. The access ports are used to protect adjacent tissues from potential abrasion and/or tearing and/or incised damage caused by insertion and manipulation of the surgical instruments and equipment. Some procedures involve the use of insufflation gases to enlarge the area surrounding the target surgical site to create a larger, more accessible work area. Accordingly, access ports may be introduced into regions that require maintenance of the pressurized gas.
Current surgical access ports allow for single instrument access through each port, or allow for multiple instrument access through a rigid or semi-rigid cannula. These devices do not provide flexibility to the surgeon in selecting instrument size, and they restrict instrument movement with their rigid cannulas.
Access ports that allow for a wider range of motion of the multiple instruments inserted in a single entry port have been described. For example, United States Patent Publication No. 2010/0113886 describes a surgical port comprising tubular cannulas through which surgical instruments are inserted. The tubular cannulas are flexible in a region of attachment to the carrier enabling pivoting and swivelling of the surgical instruments. United States Patent Publication No. 2012/0022333 also describes an access port for the simultaneous use of multiple instruments. The apparatus comprises at least two ports for receiving a surgical instrument. Each port is connected to the apparatus via a ball joint to allow for a wide range of movement of the instrument. The size and number of surgical instruments that can be inserted in these access ports is, however, limited by the number of cannulas provided in the port.
United States Patent Publication No. 2010/0094227 describes a surgical access system comprising multiple parts including a removable gel cap having a gel pad through which instruments may be inserted into a body cavity either directly or through one or more trocars. The gel pad provides a flat surface, i.e., an artificial body wall, having a limited diameter to permit flexible instrument placement and range of motion.
There continues to be a need for access ports for use in minimally invasive procedures that provide flexibility to the surgeon in selecting instrument size and maximize the range of motion of the instruments extending through the access port.
This background information is provided for the purpose of making known information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.